Short - Molroy and the Punladin

Note :

I'm putting the short here because the next chapter has something of a cliffhanger, and I don't want to leave you hanging on it.

Also the next short...might not be so short. It's already above 1k words and I'm not yet done. Ooops.

Spent most of the day recuperating. Feeling a lot better after a good deal of sleep and some good food. I really needed that.

Molroy and the Punladin

Molroy tried to stay calm as he fiddled with his drink, but it was becoming harder and harder.

His old party was incapacitated for a while, thanks to their stupidity, so he had to find a new one. For a short stint, but maybe on a more permanent basis as well.

When he stumbled upon a group of gold ranked adventurers, leagues ahead of his current copper rank, who were willing, and even eager to take him in, he thought he'd lucked out, just like with the dungeon's loot bag.

He should have known that this 'luck' was but an illusion.

"Arson ? No my dear, I think you mean crime brûlée ! Ahahahah !"

Molroy gritted his teeth as the paladin, or 'punladin' as some called him, spoke, holding up his aforementionned desert, and the rest of the tavern either cringed or laughed, depending on their dispositions and quantity of alcohol imbibed.

"So." Said Molroy, trying to head off any other atrocious puns. "You said you're used to delving into the dungeon ?"

"Sure are !" Said one of the party members, a well armed ranger. "We've been here…not since the start, understand, but pretty close. We arrived after the Republic's little bastards attacked the well and tried to kidnap lady Crystal. We were among the first to go into the water temple !"

"Yes, and we were doing so well the dungeon core adjusted the difficulty, just for us ! You could say it was punishment for our power !" Said the punladin, and everyone laughed, while Molroy gave a pantomine of a smile.

"I see. It seems to you got your just…deserts then." Said Molroy as he tapped the punladin's crême brûlée.

There was a second of almost ringing silence, and Molroy cringed, expecting…he wasn't sure what he was expecting, before the punladin laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Molroy, rogue of the adventurers guild, I dub thee Deserts, happy member of our company. Gentlemen ! To Deserts ! Forever may he pun !"

"Forever may he pun !" Chorused the rest of the team, while Molroy asked himself what he could have possibly done to the Gods to ever deserve this.